Dawn before midnight
by Rogue16
Summary: (Lilo and Stitch) An unlikely trio set out on the adventure of a lifetime.
1. Garbage

[Okay everyone, here's another L & S story for you. It's my first fic, so it may have errors. It's a bit different then the other L & S fics, so I hope you like it.]  
  
Disclamer: I don't own Lilo and Stitch. The movie Lilo and Stitch, it's characters, and any other references are copyrighted by Disney. However, my original characters are copyrighted by me. They may not be used without my permission.  
  
  
A thick cloud of dust flew by, every speck a reminder of what he had gotten himself into. Keane coughed, sighed and slumped further into the pile of garbage he was sitting on. Life, at the moment, sucked. The desert planet of Arthagar was rough, dusty and poor, plus it smelled horrible wherever you went. And Keane was becoming sick of it. His tattered black cloak moved silently as the dust cloud drifted by, and his silver fur turned another shade of brown.  
  
A blue-skinned mother and her child casually walked by the battered experiment, attempting to avoid eye contact.  
  
"Mommy, what's that?" the child asked, stopping to point at Keane.  
  
"It's nothing dear, let's keep going." The mother tugged her child's arm and they continued on their way.  
  
I don't even qualify for a gender anymore? Keane thought. He muttered to himself as he stood on the stinking garbage and jumped to the ground. This was hopeless. He never should have came to Arthagar in the first place. It had been a snap decision. Since he was considered illegal, Keane had to jump around space to scrounge up anything he could to live. This wasn't the best life if you didn't want to be chased by cops. So to get away, Keane had come here. And he regretted it ever since. There was nothing here for him. Nothing. Keane gritted his teeth. He had to get off this planet. He hadn't travelled in awhile.  
  
"But where can I go?" Keane said to himself. "Hey I know. Why don't I go to my home base?"  
  
Turo is where Keane had originated from. And it was the best place he had been throughout his travels. At least it had large cities, ripe for the picking. With his blue eyes flashing, Keane set off to his ticket out of here: the shipyard.  
  
  
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After a 30 minute walk, Keane reached the shipyard. It was hardly worth calling a shipyard; it was just a large dusty area of land where ships could come and go. There were various markings on the ground, indicating where there was room to touch down. But no one really used them.  
  
Keane strolled along between ships, looking for one that was open. Most pilots were over-protective of their ships, barring every possible entrance into their vessels. It was all they had. All the ships seemed to have been secured, until Keane stumbled upon an open hatch. The ship was old, in serious need of repair. But it had a lot of room. Voices could be heard from the interior. As quietly as he could, Keane stepped onto the ship's metal ramp and peered in at the two fat aliens at the controls.   
  
"Har! We sure caught us a fine load today, eh Roland?"  
  
"Yes, Socar. A fine load indeed. It should make us big money on the market."  
  
Curious about what this fine load was, Keane creeped a bit further inside the ship.  
  
"Well, I'm sure up for a night on the town. How about you?" Roland asked Socar.  
  
"Yeah, that sounds good. I haven't gotten drunk in who knows when!"  
  
"Then let's go." Roland stood and began to head towards the ship's exit, with Socar at his heels.  
  
Not wanting to be seen, Keene scampered off the ship and dove under it's ramp. He felt the two alien's footsteps above him. He listened to their voices, waiting for them to fade. Keane peered out from under the ramp. Roland and Socar were nowhere to be seen. Keene pushed himself out and stepped onto the ramp. Thankfully the door had been left open. He examined the inside of the ship. It was average. The metal walls reflected Keane's image as he approached the controls. Easy enough to operate. Keane pushed a few buttons, and the ship's engines slowly came to life.  
  
"Hey!" Someone shouted from behind. Keane turned around and saw that Roland and Socar were running towards him.  
  
"Get off our ship!" Socar roared angrily. He took out a small yellow plasma gun from his pocket and began to shoot in Keane's direction.  
  
Panicking, Keane searched the buttons for the switch to close the ship's hatch. Finding it, Keane hit it with his paw. Gaining control of himself, he took the ship's control stick and pushed it forward. The ship slowly rose.  
  
"Stoooop!" Socar nearly screamed. He had jammed the door open and was now holding on for dear life at it's end. He gave Keane a pleading look.  
  
"Never try to stop me," Keane growled, before pushing the control stick as hard as he could. The ship blasted forward and with a final scream, Socar lost his grip. The hatch finally shut. Staring out at the emptiness ahead of him, Keane steered the ship onward, onward to Turo. 


	2. Chapter 2

Keane stared out into the empty space ahead of him. The distant stars dotted the inky blackness that seemed to have no end. He was happy now that he had stolen this ship. Those other guys didn't need it. He could thrive on Turo. There were so many opportunities. Even if he was an illegal experiment, he could live a happy life…..  
  
A noise sounded from behind. Keane turned around, startled. He had been so deep in thought he forgot about everything else. What could it be? Probably just the engines. It was an old ship. Or what about that load the two aliens had spoken of? Keane had been too hasty to take a look. Perhaps it was time now.  
  
Keane walked over to a small hatch on the floor. He pulled it's switch, and it swung open, revealing a small storage room. It's walls and floor were simple metal, and there were boxes everywhere. There was a narrow ladder leading down. Keane stepped on to it and climbed down carefully. He hopped off and landed with a clang. The noise echoed in the ship, giving an eerie feel to the room.   
  
Another noise was heard. It was louder then the last. Keane looked over in it's direction. Through the mass of boxes he could see a small metal cage. He navigated around the larger crates and peered through the cage's rusty bars.  
  
There, bent over and still, was a small furry creature. It's blue fur was dusty, and its fluffy white belly, face and feet were nearly brown. It had a wolfish head to it, with a black nose and greyish muzzle, and it's blue spiky tail hanged limply. It was obviously not a natural being. Keane wasn't sure if it was conscious or not. He tapped on the cage softly and hoped for the reaction.  
  
The creature stirred. Its limbs moved slightly and its nose twitched. It slowly raised it's head and opened its brown eyes. When they saw Keane, they widened. The creature quickly sat up and began to scrape at the cage's floor with it's black claws.  
  
"…Who are you?" it said in a child-like voice. "Don't hurt me…. Get away…." Its masculinity could barely be recognized through it's meek voice.  
  
"I'm not going to hurt you," Keane said softly. He crouched and looked the creature in the eyes. "I came to see what you were. I heard you from above."  
  
"What happened to the other guys?"  
  
"They're gone now…" Keane glanced at the mechanical lock on the cage. It could be opened. "I'll let you out." Keane stuck a paw into his cloak and pulled out a jagged piece of metal. He stuck the sharp end into the lock and pushed it in. He moved it around a bit, waiting for the sound of victory. Click! It opened. Keane pulled off the lock and dropped it, then stood back to open the door. The creature came running out, and to Keane's surprise, it wrapped its arms around the startled experiment.  
  
"Thank you for letting me out!" the creature exclaimed. "I thought I'd never get out of that cage!"  
  
"Uh… You're welcome…" Keane patted the creature on the head then shifted out of his grasp. The blue-furred experiment looked up at Keane and smiled.  
  
"It was really cramped in that cage…" the experiment said. "Those other guys just stuck me in there."  
  
"How'd they find you anyway?"  
  
"Um… It's a long story."  
Keane and the newly discovered experiment went back to the ship's controls and sat on the chairs there. The blue-furred captive paused to look at the stars for a moment, then turned his attention back to Keane.  
  
"My name is Experiment 231," he began. "I was created by Dr. Malayaki. He was an independent scientist, he had his lab hidden on Turo where no one would find it. I hated it at that lab. Malayaki was nice enough, but everything was so tense… He would zap his experiments with his electric shocker if we did the slightest thing wrong. I was really scared of him. Sometimes he would talk with us and let us go around his lab as we pleased, and sometimes we would be stuck in our cages for weeks, with hardly any food. Malayaki didn't care about our needs…" 231 sighed. "I'm lucky to be the way I am. Some of the doctor's early experiments were horrible… They didn't have the right parts and they couldn't even use their bodies. Malayaki said it was our fault they were that way. I never understood what he meant…"  
  
"This guy sounds pleasant," Keane said sarcastically. "It must have been tough there,"  
  
"Yeah, it was… I wish I never had to go through that. I still get bad dreams."  
  
"So how did you end up here?"  
  
"Well… After a while, Malayaki was caught for making illegal experiments. I remember when that big group of police blasted open the lab's door and started shouting. Malayaki tried to stop them, but he couldn't. He was knocked out and thrown into the police ship. Then they started to round us up… Everyone ran around screaming. The police nabbed 39 experiments within a minute. I was scared. I ran through a hole in the wall a gun had made and boarded Malayaki's old ship. The police were shooting at me before I even left the ground. I'm still amazed that I got out of there…"  
  
Keane nodded in agreement. This kid had been through a lot.  
  
231 shook his head and continued. "I'm no good with ships, so I crashed near a city. I didn't know what to do then… The lab had been the only place I knew. So I went into the city to look for help. People ignored me when I talked to them. I wasn't sure why. After a while, I found the two guys who were on this ship before. They said they would help me. When we went on to this ship, they shoved me in the cage below and gave me some tranquilizer. I blacked out for a while. When I woke up, you were here…"  
  
Keane nodded and considered 231's story. "Well, 231... that was an interesting tale. My name's Keane, and you'll be safe with me for a while. I've been evading the Fed's for a while now. We'll have to hide out on Turo until we can set things straight."  
  
231 smiled. "Keane… That's a cool name. Where did you get it?"  
  
"I thought of it myself. 149 didn't really suit me."  
  
"Yeah… Well, I need a name too!" 231's brow furrowed in thought. "But what should I use? I'm no good with names… What do you think Keane?"  
  
"Um…. Well…" Keane studied 231, hoping that something would come to him. "How about… Cless? I think it suits you?"  
  
"Cless… Yeah… I like it."  
  
Keane smiled and turned his gaze to the ship's controls. They were on their way to a new life, a new start, on Turo. 


End file.
